²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of Bnei-Yisrael. ³⁰ Aaron spoke all the words that Adonai had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So the people believed. When they heard that Adonai had remembered Bnei-Yisrael and had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshipped.

Pharaoh Will Not Let Israel Go

5 Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Adonai, God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast for Me in the wilderness.”

² But Pharaoh said, “Who is Adonai, that I should listen to His voice and let Israel go? I do not know Adonai, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

³ They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so we may sacrifice to Adonai our God, or else He may strike us with pestilence or with the sword.”

⁴ But the king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, make the people break loose from their work? Go to your labors!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now so numerous, yet you would have them rest from their labors?”

⁶ Then on the same day Pharaoh commanded the slave masters of the people and their foremen saying, ⁷ “You are not to give the people any more straw to make bricks, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸ But impose on them the quota of bricks that they made previously; don’t reduce it. For they are lazy—that’s why they cry out saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ ⁹ Let even heavier work be laid upon the men, so that they must labor, paying no attention to deceptive words.”

How Will Pharaoh Listen?

6 Adonai said to Moses, “Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. By way of a strong hand he will let them go, and drive them out of his land.”

Parashat Va’eira

² God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am Adonai. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as El Shaddai. Yet by My Name, Adonai, did I not make Myself known to them. ⁴ I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage where they journeyed. ⁵ Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of Bnei-Yisrael, whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. So I have remembered My covenant. ⁶ Therefore say to Bnei-Yisrael: I am Adonai, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ I will take you to Myself as a people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Adonai your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸ So I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and give it to you as an inheritance. I am Adonai.”